Indentation inconsistency [PYTHON] TabError [Different Editors]

Question

I wrote a few python programs on Idle in Windows. I later shifted to gedit on Ubuntu 14.04. Both have python3 working.

I edited these files in gedit.

When I run these files, I get

'TabError: inconsistent use of tabs and spaces in indentation'

error, even when VISUALLY, there is no inconsistent tabbing or indentation done.

[Seemingly, on Windows' Idle the tabs are 4-spaces wide, whereas in gedit, the tabs currently are 8-spaces wide. So, I couldn't use TAB directly.]

How to resolve this error and the issue? Any solutions?

"hard-tabs" - you are worse than Sauron and Saruman rolled into one. — , Mar 16 '15 at 10:12
You should replace all the tabs with spaces. The preferred tab width is 2 spaces. In most of the editors you have option to replace tabs with spaces automatically. — Ankit Jaiswal, Mar 16 '15 at 10:12
My best bet: Its not your OS, its your editor that's trying to be smart. — UltraInstinct, Mar 16 '15 at 10:13
@FrancisColas right, that was a mistake and I'm now not able to edit that comment :) — Ankit Jaiswal, Mar 16 '15 at 10:20
You need your editor to show you the white space as visible characters. Once you have that any inconsistency is easy to correct. — Dan D., Mar 16 '15 at 10:34
@DanD. How do I do that? Because setting tab width as 4-spaces and inserting spaces in place of Tabs is not working out for me. — complextea, Mar 16 '15 at 10:37
You can use `expand -t 4 myfile.py` at the command line to replace all your tabs with four spaces. — Crowman, Mar 16 '15 at 11:52
@DanD. Thanks for your suggestion of displaying the white space/control characters. I installed 'Draw Spaces' and saw the tabs that were yet to be converted to spaces and changed them. It all works now. — complextea, Mar 17 '15 at 04:50
"even when VISUALLY, there is no inconsistent tabbing" You can see whitespace? — Davesoft, Jul 06 '18 at 14:48

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

2

The standard answer is to configure your editors (all of them) so that you only have spaces and always four of them. For code that already exist, you have to transform all tabs into spaces (sed can do it quickly, as should any editor/IDE you use). Most editors should be able to insert spaces when pressing the TAB key.

See pep8 for reference:

Spaces are the preferred indentation method.

Tabs should be used solely to remain consistent with code that is already indented with tabs.

Python 3 disallows mixing the use of tabs and spaces for indentation.

Python 2 code indented with a mixture of tabs and spaces should be converted to using spaces exclusively.

When invoking the Python 2 command line interpreter with the -t option, it issues warnings about code that illegally mixes tabs and spaces. When using -tt these warnings become errors. These options are highly recommended!

Also see, this to check for mixing of tabs and spaces.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

1
1

answered Mar 16 '15 at 10:14

Francis Colas

3,459
2
26
31

1

I hate that pep8 made 4 spaces the convention – Holloway Mar 16 '15 at 10:23
Well, it's not a bad solution; but I understand, I was a tabs guy. ;) – Francis Colas Mar 16 '15 at 10:34
I'm, sorry but it's not working. I set the tab-width to 4-spaces and inserted space in place of Tabs. @FrancisColas – complextea Mar 16 '15 at 10:38
2

You need to convert all tabs into spaces, not just new ones. If you still see the exception, that means that you forgot tabs somewhere. – Francis Colas Mar 16 '15 at 10:43

Rahul Soshte · Answer 2 · 2018-07-06T14:45:02.703

0

People using Sublime Text Editors, Check this way.

Select all the code.
Select Tools.
Click 'Install Package Control'.
Then Click on Command Pallete.
Search for 'Convert to Tabs' and select it.
Done. All Spaces will be converted into Tabs.

edited Jul 06 '18 at 14:45

answered Jul 06 '18 at 14:35

Rahul Soshte

798
8
11

I removed the link,Cool – Rahul Soshte Jul 06 '18 at 14:47

Indentation inconsistency [PYTHON] TabError [Different Editors]

2 Answers2